Three Aspects of Coverage Provided by the Long Cane: Object, Surface, and Foot-Placement Preview

Blasch, Bruce B.; LaGrow, Steven J.; l'Aune, W. R. De

doi:10.1177/0145482x9609000404

Cited by 34 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The two-point touch technique – swinging the cane side to side, tapping either side in an arc slightly wider than the widest part of the body – and the constant contact technique – sweeping the cane from side to side in an arc slightly wider than the widest part of the body while keeping the cane tip in contact with the surface at all times – are the two cane techniques most widely used by travelers who are blind (LaGrow & Long, 2011). Regardless of which technique is used, detection of drop-offs and obstacles, a key component of preview offered by a long cane (Blasch, LaGrow, & De l’Aune, 1996), is crucial for the safety of blind travelers. Missing drop-offs such as descending stairs or curbs may cause a cane user to fall or stumble into the path of approaching vehicles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of cane length and swing arc width on drop-off and obstacle detection with the long cane

Kim

Emerson

Naghshineh

2017

British Journal of Visual Impairment

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A repeated-measures design with block randomization was used for the study, in which 15 adults with visual impairments attempted to detect the drop-offs and obstacles with the canes of different lengths, swinging the cane in different widths (narrow vs wide). Participants detected the drop-offs significantly more reliably with the standard-length cane (79.5% ± 6.5% of the time) than with the extended-length cane (67.6% ± 9.1%), p <.001. The drop-off detection threshold of the standard-length cane (4.1 ± 1.1 cm) was also significantly smaller than that of the extended-length cane (6.5±1.8cm), p <.001. In addition, participants detected drop-offs at a significantly higher percentage when they swung the cane approximately 3 cm beyond the widest part of the body (78.6% ± 7.6%) than when they swung it substantially wider (30 cm; 68.5% ± 8.3%), p <.001. In contrast, neither cane length (p =.074) nor cane swing arc width (p =.185) had a significant effect on obstacle detection performance. The findings of the study may help orientation and mobility specialists recommend appropriate cane length and cane swing arc width to visually impaired cane users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of cane length and swing arc width on drop-off and obstacle detection with the long cane

Kim

Emerson

Naghshineh

2017

British Journal of Visual Impairment

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“…The first category aims to improve sensing capabilities of blind pedestrians with wearable or carried tools that can be used to receive additional information from the environment. The most common aid in this group is the long cane [Blasch et al 1996], used by people with visual impairments to expand their haptic exploration area, and to notify sighted pedestrians of the user's visual impairment. Other tools involve augmentations or replacements of the long cane, such as laser canes [Benjamin and Malvern 1973], ultrasonic sensing devices [Pressey 1977] or depth sensors [Brock and Kristensson 2013].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving Practical and Accurate Indoor Navigation for People with Visual Impairments

Ahmetovic

Masayuki

Gleason

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference

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Methods that provide accurate navigation assistance to people with visual impairments often rely on instrumenting the environment with specialized hardware infrastructure. In particular, approaches that use sensor networks of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons have been shown to achieve precise localization and accurate guidance while the structural modifications to the environment are kept at minimum. To install navigation infrastructure, however, a number of complex and time-critical activities must be performed. The BLE beacons need to be positioned correctly and samples of Bluetooth signal need to be collected across the whole environment. These tasks are performed by trained personnel and entail costs propor tional to the size of the environment that needs to be instrumented. To reduce the instrumentation costs while maintaining a high ac curacy, we improve over a traditional regression-based localization approach by introducing a novel, graph-based localization method using Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) and particle filter. We then study how the number and density of beacons and Bluetooth samples impact the balance between localization accuracy and setup cost of the navigation environment. Studies with users show the impact that the increased accuracy has on the usability of our navigation application for the visually impaired. CCS Concepts •Social and professional topics → People with disabilities; •Human centered computing → Accessibility technologies; User studies; •Computer systems organization → Sensor networks; •Information systems → Location based services;

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“…However, their usefulness is limited by the length of the cane and to low-lying obstacles. 27 Telescopes can be used for orientation tasks, such as reading signs or identifying features of the environment. However, their effectiveness is limited by a restricted field of view (FOV) and the need for good physical coordination and dexterity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ability of Head-Mounted Display Technology to Improve Mobility in People With Low Vision: A Systematic Review

Htike

Margrain

Lai

et al. 2020

Trans. Vis. Sci. Tech.

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The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic literature review on how vision enhancements, implemented using head-mounted displays (HMDs), can improve mobility, orientation, and associated aspects of visual function in people with low vision. Methods: The databases Medline, Chinl, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for potentially relevant studies. Publications from all years until November 2018 were identified based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data were tabulated and synthesized to produce a systematic review. Results: The search identified 28 relevant papers describing the performance of vision enhancement techniques on mobility and associated visual tasks. Simplifying visual scenes improved obstacle detection and object recognition but decreased walking speed. Minification techniques increased the size of the visual field by 3 to 5 times and improved visual search performance. However, the impact of minification on mobility has not been studied extensively. Clinical trials with commercially available devices recorded poor results relative to conventional aids. Conclusions: The effects of current vision enhancements using HMDs are mixed. They appear to reduce mobility efficiency but improved obstacle detection and object recognition. The review highlights the lack of controlled studies with robust study designs. To support the evidence base, well-designed trials with larger sample sizes that represent different types of impairments and real-life scenarios are required. Future work should focus on identifying the needs of people with different types of vision impairment and providing targeted enhancements. Translational Relevance: This literature review examines the evidence regarding the ability of HMD technology to improve mobility in people with sight loss.

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Three Aspects of Coverage Provided by the Long Cane: Object, Surface, and Foot-Placement Preview

Cited by 34 publications

References 13 publications

Effect of cane length and swing arc width on drop-off and obstacle detection with the long cane

Effect of cane length and swing arc width on drop-off and obstacle detection with the long cane

Achieving Practical and Accurate Indoor Navigation for People with Visual Impairments

Ability of Head-Mounted Display Technology to Improve Mobility in People With Low Vision: A Systematic Review

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